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OS: SO558380
Hampton Bishop, St Andrew
The Hampton Bishop Parish Church of St Andrew [listing] is tucked away and almost surrounded by the rivers where the River Lugg joins the River Wye. The B4224 runs through the village and the the church is on the North side of the B4224 at the junction where Whitehall Rd meets Church Lane. There is not much parking nearby. It is an unusual Norman church with a half-timbered tower on the North side about half way along the nave.
This is a ground floor ring, the ringing area has two stone walls and the two sides looking onto the nave are enclosed in glass. A rather nice setup.
2009-04-17 [ expand ]
I visited for the first time on Friday 17th April 2009 for a practical session during the Hereford Ringing Course. However, the bells are not so nice to ring. It is a long pull without any rope guides and those ringing with me that had rung there before warned us that while recent work had been done to improve them they were still tricky.
I rang up bell #5 which seemed ok. I next rang bell #3, which was a little trickier, to attempt for the first time calling a touch of Plain Bob Doubles. On both touches I called them with myself as observation, which seemed like the simplest way, and was pleased that everything went according to plan! I realised that this was also the first time I had rung a touch of Plain Bob Doubles as observation. I ended by I ringing down bell #5. A very satisfying evening.
2012-09-22 [ expand ]
My second visit on Saturday 22nd September 2012 was as the fifth tower of the WDCRA Southern Branch 2012 Tour.
Three years after my first visit and I still found them a little tricky to ring. On this visit I only rang bell #5, first to ring it up and secondly to ring a touch of Grandsire Doubles. None of the ringing sounded very good so it not just relatively inexperienced ringers who find 'em a little tricky.
The Bells
The tower has a ring of 6 bells with a tenor weighing ~10-0-0 in G. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St Andrew.
The Hereford Diocesan Guild of bellringers also have information on the Hampton Bishop Parish Church of St Andrew. No information on the bells history or inscriptions was to be found.
